Pregnancy Center Reaching Muslim Women With Gospel

June 01, 2017

When Lisa Cathcart and Aron Riley approached the principal of a local high school in the fall of 2014, their hope was to bring their sexual risk avoidance curriculum into the 10th grade wellness class.

That meeting went far better than they’d hoped, however, and soon, their pro-life pregnancy center was opening its second location—right on campus of the largest public high school in Nashville, Tenn.

Pregnancy Care Center’s unexpected inroad has not only landed them in an ideal position to reach over 2, 300 students at McGavock High School, it’s introduced the center’s services to women and families from 24 nations in the immigrant-rich city where 12 percent of the population is now foreign-born.

“We were just floored, ” Cathcart, the center’s executive director, said of the initial meeting with the school administrator. “We never expected that type of invitation from a school of that size and influence in the community.”

Eventually deciding to focus on sexual risk avoidance and pregnancy consultations at the high school, the pregnancy center—which started serving women in 2009—is also making the most of its constant presence on campus to help make students aware of its full spectrum of services 10 miles away.

At the center’s location in the Nashville neighborhood of Old Hickory, the staff and volunteers meet women with care that includes free pregnancy tests, parenting classes and material aid, as well as free ultrasounds through a partnership with Portico Pregnancy Center of Murfreesboro.

“What I do love is that it gives us the opportunity to build rapport with somebody, ” Cathcart said. “If we can meet them where they’re at, between classes or get them out of classes, we can build a connection, and then hopefully the next visit—or a future visit—will be here in our office.”

A major advantage to the on-campus site is its location within the high school’s Enrollment Center—a separate building that houses a variety of administrative offices. Its detachment from the main campus allows students to come and go without publicizing their need for pregnancy help.

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